Business
I am so excited to launch today’s episode as it speaks to the core of Women who Build, which is to encourage women founders and investors to take that one leap of faith that can make all the difference! I spoke to some of my favorite people from the startup world around ‘Women as an Opportunity’ from their experiences in both India and the US - Jesse Draper, Founding Partner, Halogen VC and Host and Creator of Valley Girl Show Manish Kheterpal, Founding Partner, WaterBridge Ventures Ankur Goyal, Founder and CEO, &Me Hena Mehta, Founder and CEO, Basis and Chapter Head, LeanIn, Bangalore While we all know about the grim situation of women in the startup space, our lovely guests discussed how women ADD VALUE in both investing and operating teams, and WHAT CAN WE DO, together as an ecosystem to ensure that the value-add is smooth. How do women add value? - Having women in the team brings in diversity of thought - but best teams have BOTH genders! - Women team members or communities can inform the trajectory of your product, content ideas - never stick to what YOU think consumers want. - Women make great investors - they go through many data points before making an investment decision, which is okay as long as it doesn’t slow them down. What can we do? - In India, we need organized efforts such as All Raise. To improve the flow, basic issues such as regulations on gender equity or access to education for women need to be solved by the govt. - Both men and women need to step up as role-models. - To find more women founders - look at new / non-traditional places! - More women should step up to invest in women - women should learn to grow their money before giving it away - include yourself in every financial decision, teach your little girls about money from early on! Message for women founders - - If you got no success after talking to 10 investors, increase the topline and change the number to 100 before you get a good fit - get used to NOs! - Take feedback, re-design your pitch to find success. Follow on Twitter - Jesse @JesseDraper, Manish @mkheterpal, Ankur @ankurgoyal2204, Hena @hena1220, The Women who Build @TheWomenWhoBui1. For any questions / suggestions, write to me at shreya.bakliwal1993@gmail.com.